Jimmy Watkins: The Running Punk

Falling back in love isn’t easy, but that’s what former Great Britain athlete Jimmy Watkins did with running. How? Creativity, community, and not measuring everything.

Welcome to Running Sucks, a running blog where I talk to interesting people in the running world to find out how to make running suck less.

“Punk was an attitude. It was never about having a Mohican haircut or wearing a ripped t-shirt. It was all about destruction, and the creative potential within that.”
Malcolm McLaren

For the first few years of the new millennium, James Watkins was a full-time athlete. Running 800m and 1500m track races for Great Britain. Getting Welsh indoor records here and major tournament appearances there. But then, in 2007, he gave it all up and followed a different passion of playing guitar. Again, he was a success, touring the world with celebrated indie punks Future of the Left.

Jimmy Watkins of the Running Punks (image c/o Paul Grace)

Now? He’s combining those two huge parts of his life. You might remember Jimmy from the internet, when the videos of his unique running album reviews went very, very viral in 2020.

Jimmy, tell me why you started reviewing albums w…